


Get Off My Throne

by Timewormbloom



Category: Ranger's Apprentice - John Flanagan
Genre: F/M, Ferris gets called a bitch and he deserves it, Teen rating for slight language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:20:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21632833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Timewormbloom/pseuds/Timewormbloom
Summary: Halt realized that Ferris won’t help them long before they reunite. So he decides to take the surprisingly legal ‘do it yourself route’ and go around Ferris entirely. And what are they gonna do, tell the legal king he can’t do something?
Relationships: Pauline duLacy/Halt O'Carrick
Comments: 34
Kudos: 143





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of this tumblr post: https: //queen-evanlyn.tumblr.com/post/186604495250/so-i-loved-kings-of-clonmel

**Notice**

**If you are reading this on the app Fanfic Pocket, I want you to know that this fic was stolen without my consent. The app creator stole every piece of writing on the app from Ao3. If you want to read this, or anything else I wrote, please do so on my[tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/timewormbloom) or my [ao3.](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Timewormbloom/works)**

* * *

Something was..off with Halt. Horace had expected Halt to silently trail behind him with his cowl up. Not walk in front of Horace with his face bare and a glare that could make Morgarath wet his pants. He had even properly his beard before arriving, which was strange coming from the person who almost cut their hair with a knife right before his wedding. Horace mentally shrugged to himself. Maybe Halt was going to intimidate or threaten Ferris into helping them instead of asking. Horace nodded to himself. Thinking about it, Halt opening a negotiation by showing any sort of desperation was incredibly out of character. 

Eventually, they made it to the throne room. Sean left them there for a moment to slip in and tell Ferris that they were there. In the meantime, Horace got a front-row seat to Halt somehow becoming so pissed off that his hands were clenched so tightly he appeared to be trembling. 

When Sean finally came back Halt looked like someone had just kidnapped Will again. Sean was immediately on guard and rested his hand over the hilt of his sword. He eyed Halt suspiciously.

“No funny business,” Sean warned as they were finally lead into the throne room. He had almost entirely dismissed Horace, which was fair considering Halt was fury incarnate at the moment. 

“Trust me, nothing about this is funny,” Halt growled as he stalked inside the instant the door was open. Horace trailed in after him, now beginning to get a little worried. But somehow, the closer Halt got to the king, the calmer he became. Well, that wasn’t quite right. His anger just somehow became sharper and more..directed.

The effect was almost instantaneous. The...rounded...man sitting on the throne seemed to wilt before their eyes under Halt’s gaze.

“Ferris, you little bitch. Get off my throne.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Did I miss something?” That question was rather redundant since Will had very obviously missed something. He had been half expecting to be turned away when he arrived at the castle. He had even brought some rope in case the need arose. 

He was not expecting to be personally escorted into the throne room and certainly wasn’t ready to see what appeared to be his mentor sitting on the throne. 

"Are you just going to stand there or do you have news?" The maybe-Halt asked. This seemed to catch the interest of the various nobles and guards lingering around the edges of the room. You could see the gears in their head spinning as they tried to figure out how Will was related to their new king.

"Oh yeah, that. He's here." 

\------

"Horace, my dearest friend. My oldest companion. What the hell is going on here," Will hissed as they trailed behind Halt, a small group of guards lingering a few steps behind them. They had tried to form a protective barrier around Halt when they left the castle, but Halt had just picked up his bow and waved them off. 

"Turns out Halt's secretly their long-lost crown prince, and not in a 'look at this official document that didn't exist until this morning' kind of way."

"....dibs on telling Lady Pauline."

\-------

"Where is your king now!" Tennyson was whipping the crowds into a frenzy. In the chaos, no one noticed Halt and his companions making their way through the crowd until they were nearly on Tennyson's toes. 

"Right here, you lying sack of bullshit," Halt loudly announced. Will would treasure the aborted whimpering sound Tennyson made for the rest of his life. 

"So you decide to show your face at last!" Tennyson quickly recovered and spun around with a smug smile, which he soon dropped. "Wait, you're not..."

"Tennyson. I know you managed to get the Ferris to turn a blind eye, but knock it off before I send an arrow into your skull." 

Halt's little declaration drew the attention of the crowd, and the cheers quieted to agitated whispers. Fortunately for them, the behemoths lurking next to Tennyson were still eyeing the guards without moving. Though, considering how Will and Horaces' hands were inching towards their weapons, it was hard to say who the lucky one in that situation.

"You will not interfere with Alseiass's will! We are here to challenge the King! Join us if you desire salvation!" Tennyson angeled his body away from them, so he could whip up the crowd at the same time. Halt gave a tired wave in Horace's general direction. 

"Sure, you do that." Halt rolled his eyes as Will took a flying leap out from the crowd while Tennyson's goons were suddenly acquainted with Horace's shield.

\------

"You can't just go around arresting my citizens!" Ferris huffed, his arms crossed as he gave the floor what might have been a halfway decent glare. 

"You know Ferris, even though you are generally a terrible human being, there is one thing I respect about you." Halt gave Ferris a smile. You didn't have to know Halt to know that it was very obviously a 'run while you can' smile. Ferris was the exception to this. He perked up slightly at what appeared to be the promise of praise.

"I mean, your head's been lodged up you ass for years, and yet you still haven't noticed how full of shit you are! It's honestly a talent at this point." Halt slapped Ferris across the back as he climbed the steps to his throne. 

\------

"Halt, what are you doing."

"Lady Pauline! You're here?" 

"As the official representative from Araluen, King Duncan sends his regards and hopes to form a positive relationship that will benefit both kingdoms. As your wife, you have ten seconds to explain."


	3. Chapter 3

There was no protocol for this. As the captain of the royal guard, Sean was responsible for the safety of the king. But the king didn't appear to be in too much trouble at the moment. If anything, he seemed to be fine with the representative from Araluen backing him into a corner. He just looked...defeated.

"...and next time you take over a country, I expect at least a week's notice," the woman gave King Halt one last stern look. King Halt replied to her quietly with a frantic wave of his hand. She smoothed some imaginary creases out of her clothing and finally stepped back. 

Sean made a small choking noise at the impertinence. Everyone stared in shock as King Halt gave her the least vicious smile Sean had ever seen on him.

"I'll make sure to keep that in mind next time." They shared a quiet huff of laughter before Halt turned to address the shocked crowd standing at the foot of his throne.

"This is my wife, Lady Pauline DuLacey of Araluen," he declared. Halt offered his arm to his wife as he made his way out of the room. True to form, he ignored everyone who tried to talk to him.

\---

"Lady Pauline! I didn't know you were here! What's up?" Will cheered. He dropped out of the tree he had spent the last hour perched in. Lady Pauline abandoned Halt to hug him. 

"King Duncan received word of the new king a few days ago. He saw Halt's name, slammed his head on his desk, then sent me a letter." Lady Pauline released a cackling Will a moment later. 

"We can talk about Duncan's imminent grey hairs later. In the meantime, can I offer you a tour?" Halt had a sinister grin on his face. It could have had something to do with Ferris, who was lurking in the background. Halt ignored him and instead motioned for Sean to join them. 

"Well, let's get this started then!"

\--

"This is where Ferris tried to kill me, and that's where I kicked his ass. If you stand on that tower and squint, you can see where he tried to drown me," Halt drawled on as lead the way through the gardens. 

"Ferris didn't mention that part of the story," Sean replied with a minute wince. Halt was about an hour into his performance, and Sean was getting tenser by the minute. The man in question had split off hours ago with some mumbled excuses no one bothered to listen to. 

"You all seem to be taking this rather well," Sean mentioned. Lady Pauline, Will, and Horace were exceptionally calm. Sean expected them to have flipped out by this point, but they looked mildly intrigued at most.

"We've already been informed, and I assure you that the appropriate course of action has already been initiated." Sean had thought that King Halt was the intimidating one in the pair, but the flawless smile on Lady Pauline's face suggested something else. He forced a small laugh and promptly moved to the back of the group. 

Sean had seen what King Halt could do. On the second day of his reign, he had appeared on the training grounds with a bow. What happened after that had already been recorded and was securely stored in the archives. When he brought it up, Will or Horace just laughed. Sean didn't want to know what else Halt had done to make that seem like a joke. 

...but he could most certainly not avoid the brightly colored arrow sailing towards his head. Sean sprinted forward. He could see several people in the corners of his eyes doing the same thing. But before any of them made it King Halt calmly stepped to the side. The arrow went skidding harmlessly on the ground. 

"And this is where Ferris tried to shoot an arrow at me but failed because he decided to use the ornamental ones that you could spot from a mile away," Halt shouted at a random tower. If you squinted, you could make out someone scrambling down the tower. 

"I'll start the investigation at once, your majesty." Sean dropped down into a short bow. Guards were already swarming the tower trying to catch the assassin. Sean tried to join them, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. 

"Don't."

"Do you want us to just ignore this!"

"Yes. Lady Pauline already has plans, and I'd rather not have to execute him before I can see that."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to include people's reactions to what's been going on in this chapter. If you're wondering where Ferris went, imagine that Pauline's sheer competence obliterated him or something. I feel like the pacing was a bit off here, but I'm leaving it be for now.

Violet prided herself on being the best head of staff that Hibernia had ever seen. None of her predecessors had put as many hours into running the castle as she had. Privately, she would admit that none of her predecessors had needed to work as hard because their rulers weren’t incompetent assholes, but that’s irrelevant. It was her duty to make sure that everything in the castle was in top shape.

But this new king was throwing her for a loop. At first glance, he was a mirror image of his brother. A thinner, grouchier mirror who had the annoying habit of popping out of nowhere to make sarcastic comments and steal unattended coffee. When he first arrived she had assumed that his hair had been the victim in some horrible accident and called the barber. King Halt had stood on a table and loudly declared that “the last time I got a haircut was when I got married, and this isn’t nearly as important as that”. Turns out the ‘horrible accident’ was just the knife he carried around with him. But it was a fun way to find out that they had a queen King Halt hadn’t bothered to mention until then.

Queen Pauline, on the other hand, was exactly what the castle needed. On one notable occasion; King Halt had given his royal seal to his wife, declared that he had already made a copy of it and she can do whatever she likes, and jumped out the window to avoid talking to another finance minister. Violet had never seen so much reform in a single afternoon. But now she had better wages and benefits, so really what could she say.

\--

“How long till we can head back home? Crowley’s asking for his rangers back.” Will remarked as he read the Commandant's latest letter. Their small group was lounging in one of Halts’ rooms. Pauline and Halt each had a large pile of papers in front of them, and Will and Horace were messing with their weapons. 

“I’ve barely gotten through the retirement laws, and the education system is still a flaming mess. You two are free to head back home, though.” Pauline gave them a warm smile over the paperwork. 

“ We probably should. Araluen’s been down two rangers for too long. And Crowley’s been sounding nervous in his latest letter.” Will sounded remorseful, yet resigned. Horace nodded.

Pauline dropped the paperwork to embrace Will.

\--

“We’ll see you again soon. Keep things calm in Araluen until then,” Pauline told Will and Horace as they all stood at the front of the castle. Their horses were all loaded up and waiting next to them. A small crowd was gathered since this was the first time Halt had really left the castle since he had been declared king. He was slouched next to Pauline with some guards trailing behind them. If Halt wasn’t the one with the royal headband, it would have been fair to assume that Pauline was the ruler and Halt was some hobo she took pity on. 

“Don’t take too long. Let me know how everything over here goes,” Will stepped forward to give Pauline a hug and she kissed the top of his head. Halt ruffled his hair and did the same to Horace. One last hug later, they were mounting their horses and riding off. 

“That’s kinda weird,” Will remarked as he looked at the crowd that had split to let them through. Sure, it made sense to let the horses through, but they were giving him half the street. 

“Who knows.” Horace shrugged it off. Will shrugged back, and they left the city in peace.

\--

“If one more bandit slows us down I’m going to lose it,” Horace sighed as he stuffed some more bread in his face.

“Cheers to that,” Will joked as he dug into his stew again. They were supposed to be back in Araluen a week ago, but apparently every bandit in the country decided to show up. Thankfully, there were enough inns on the way so they weren’t jumped in the middle of the night. The inn they had stumbled upon that day was busy, so there was a steady hum of conversation that Will automatically tuned in to. 

“The situation with the new king is crazy,” some stranger at the table next to them asked his companion.

“Really?” the other man leaned forward with interest.

“Yeah I don’t know all of it, but I’ve heard some interesting rumors. Turns out King Halt isn’t just named after the old crown prince, he’s actually the old crown prince.”

“Wait, the prince that died under mysterious circumstances a few decades ago? Ferris’s older brother?”

“Yeah, he’s alive somehow. I don’t really know what going on there, either. But his wife’s been rewriting just about every law in existence. I’ve seen some of it, and I have to say I’m glad that we finally have a ruler with a spine,” the first man’s voice dropped to almost a whisper as he said the last part. 

“So I guess we might actually have an heir now,” the other man responded, “It isn’t like Ferris was ever going to have one.”

“Some people say that they already have an heir, but no one really knows. There were two young men that accompanied King Halt when he arrived, and I was outside the castle when they left. They were all really affectionate, and they sure looked like a family. They’ve been really tightlipped about the whole situation.”

By this point, Horace had clued into the conversation and was sharing an amused look with Will. The news of the new king had spread like fire, and they’d been hearing rumors left and right. Oddly enough, the closer a rumor got to the truth the more people rejected it. That had been an interesting letter back to Halt and Pauline. 

Will was looking forward to telling Alyss that she’s probably considered the princess of a nation no one in her family had ever stepped foot in.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm calling this done here since there's not much else I could add. And while I love this idea, I'm getting tired of it. If someone wants to pick this up or write the prompt for themselves, feel free.

Pauline gave the advisor a look over her paperwork. He wilted under her gaze and sheepishly shuffled out of the room with the proposal he had tried to present to them. Halt didn’t remember what he had pitched to them but Pauline had that ‘some dumbass tried to disrespect me’ look, so he had a few ideas. He took pleasure in crumpling the stray paper he had left behind.

“Have I mentioned how lucky I am to have you here,” Halt sighed. He got to erase his brother’s legacy and have people bring him coffee any time he wants, and his only role as king was to support Pauline’s decisions. 

“Yes, many times.” Pauline gave him a small smile before calling the next noble with a grievance. She estimated that she had about a month’s worth of work and reforms before they could abdicate and slip back home. There was the small issue of who would take over for them, but she had been dropping hints to Sean. She was sure that he’d do just fine. 

\--

“Your majesty, I’m considered for your health.” The staff looked on in shock as the king downed his tenth cup of coffee that morning.

“Mind your own business. If I’m gonna die, this is how I wanna go.”

\--

“Your majesty, could you please move your hand a little to right?” the painter asked Pauline. 

“Of course,” Pauline smoothly replied as she adjusted her hand as he suggested. The royal painter went back to his work and Halt tried not to scowl. Pauline hadn’t been able to threaten him into smiling, so a neutral look of disinterest was what she got. He didn’t know why he had to be there since everyone knew Pauline was the real ruler. Most of his ‘subjects’ didn’t even recognize his name. He’d even been referred to as the Prince Consort by accident a few times. But Pauline insisted, so here he was. 

“What’s the point in having portraits if we’re not even going to be rulers in a month?” Halt grumbled. 

“The historians insisted. Apparently, this whole debacle has messed up the records, so they want as much evidence as they can get. The whole twin thing is really messing people up.” 

“Maybe I want to make historians pull their hair out in a hundred years.”

“Halt, you’re already doing that today, Just look forward so that poor man can do his job.”

\--

“And that’s the last of the healthcare reforms. I swear, every time I think I’ve reached the bottom of this shitshow Ferris shows me that I’m wrong,” Pauline seethed. She passed the last stack off to a waiting attendant and leaned back in her chair. The office technically belonged to Halt but he had taken one look at the throne as passed off all royal authority and property to his wife. 

“Well, you’ve remodeled the entire country and you’re going to go down in history as the greatest monarch the nation’s ever seen. You already have a festival in your honor and at least a dozen books are being written about your glory. So can we leave now?” Halt was slumped in the corner with his headband slung on the corner of his chair. 

“Well, I guess there’s nothing left for us to do. And we still have duties back home that have been building up. I’ll call a meeting, you make sure Sean shows up,” Pauline stood up with grace and strode out of the room. Halt smirked as he went out to find his nephew. 

\--

Pauline took her place at the head of the table with Halt slouching against the wall behind her. The assembled lords looked on with interest since she didn’t call meetings like this very often. Any lord that would have protested her actions had been removed by Ferris, so there wasn’t a need. She could do anything she wanted and they wouldn’t say a word. 

“I have an announcement. My husband and I are abdicating.” The room erupted into chaos. Several lords literally spit out their drinks, and servants had to rush in to help the ones who had started choking. 

“Why? Is something wrong?” One piped up in shock. They couldn’t imagine why someone would just give up power like that, so surely something must be amiss. 

“We’re tired. We’re going home,” Halt bluntly replied. 

“But who is going to take the throne?” The lords that weren’t preoccupied with the liquid still clogging their airways practically had dollar signs in their eyes. As they saw it, the throne was theirs for the taking.

“Sean’s going to be the king.” Pauline figured it was about time she dropped the bomb.

“What!” Sean yelled from his position next to the doors. 

“You’re the only member of the royal family left who isn’t Ferris, and the other options aren’t looking too good.” Halt gestured to the lords as he dragged his nephew to the front of the room. He took off his headband and plopped it on Sean’s head.

“Well, good luck with stuff here. We’re going home now.” Halt escorted his wife out the front doors to their horses who had been waiting by the front gates. Sean was left with his mouth gaping at first, but he settled with looking at his uncle with a resigned expression. 

\--

“Lady Pauline, it’s good to have you back,” Baron Arald welcomed the couple back. Pauline stepped forward to embrace him. 

“It’s good to see you too. Being queen was nice, but I’m ready to go back to normal. At least I know I left the country in good hands.” Pauline stepped back to hand her horse off to a waiting stable hand. She was staying at the castle, while Halt had to meet up with Will at the cabin. Neither of them were excited about the piles of work that had stacked up in their absence. Halt had about a dozen small bandit groups that Will hadn’t been able to take care of, and Pauline had to sort out the entire Courtier Services. 

“I have a feeling that I’ll be hearing rumors about Queen Pauline the Great for a long time,” Arald laughs. 

“Actually, they call her Queen Pauline the Glorious,” Halt added.

“Thank you for that Halt. If the fanatics heard you using the wrong title they’d freak out,” Pauline mentioned.

“Wait, you were only queen for a month or two, how do you already have a cult?”


End file.
